Happy birthday dear Isabelle,

we sure do love you!

Isabelle decided that what she really, REALLY wanted for her birthday was contacts.  And seeing as how she is a very responsible kid - for a nine-year-old- and seeing as Caden also got contacts at this age and did great with them, I went along with it.

Of course, this was AFTER she asked the eye doctor at a regular eye check-up last week if she could try them out.  And he sent her home with a pair to try for a week to see what she thought. And it was AFTER I had some moments of mourning about not getting to see her in glasses very often anymore.  Because I happened to think she was adorable in glasses and that they made her look so little girlish:( And it was AFTER she tried them out for a week and did great with them.

I guess I will have to settle for these photos that show her tan-line from wearing glasses:)

Belle also wanted to go camping for her birthday, so a-camping we did go - for the second weekend in a row! And even though I think I like going camping better when there is a little time in-between, we had a good time and when we came home on Saturday we finished up her party:

I'm so glad that Isabelle is part of our family!
*She has such a happy, helpful nature.  I love how she skips about from thing to thing, humming to herself and in her own little world.  She is such a free spirit.
* How she has learned to make her older siblings laugh at the things that she says.
*How she loves to teach every bit of knowledge that she has!  Sometimes I will give her a job, (recently it was vacuuming a room) and later one of the kids will tell me that they have walked past the room and they hear her saying, "First, you do this.  Then you..." She tries to rope the little boys into playing "school" with her whenever possible.  In fact, besides contacts, all that she asked for was teaching supplies - sticky notes, erasable markers for her white board, pens, etc.
*She loves to read and is a great little student herself.
*She knows how to entertain and care for little kids so well, and enjoys doing it!
*She can be very feisty, and sticks up for her rights:)